NONLINEAR NUMERICAL MODELING OF TRUSSES

Resumo

Trusses are a type of structural system widely applied in Engineering, performing, in many
cases, as an agile and economically advantageous solution. In Structural Engineering, computational
modeling consists of a powerful tool for representing the behavior of structural elements and systems,
especially if a non-linear approach is utilized, allowing the evaluation of its mechanical performance
both in the design phase and throughout its lifetime. Metal alloys, specially the steel, are currently

employed on the construction of trusses. This kind of ductile material presents a pronounced non-
linear mechanical behavior, more specifically an elastoplastic one. Therefore, it is of importance the

consideration of the hardening effect in the structural analysis of structural systems constituted by
ductile materials, for allowing a better understanding of the structural behavior of these systems and
the study of their resistance in the post-yield regime. This work aims to develop numerical models of
trusses, considering different elastoplastic models – e.g., perfectly elastoplastic, isotropic hardening
and Ramberg-Osgood – in order to verify its influence on the response of the trusses, regarding
serviceability limit state (SLS) failure modes, in terms of allowable displacements and stresses. The
models are implemented in Python language and validated according to examples presented in the
literature.